This year, disabled voters will exercise their right to vote independently for the first time in Arizona’s history. Voting machines for the disabled will be dispersed to every county in Arizona in time for both the Primary and General Elections. Until now, voting for the disabled was often a difficult and frustrating assisted process, with no personal privacy to their choices. This year, however, disabled voters will be able to cast their ballots in privacy, without assistance filling out their ballots thanks in part to a federally grant program that awarded Arizona dollars to purchase voting machines for the disabled

The new voting machines are designed to provide privacy and accessibility to voters who are blind, vision-impaired or have a disability or condition that would make it difficult or impossible to mark a ballot in a usual way. In addition, the technology provides language assistance to voters who are more comfortable speaking in an alternative language or have difficulty reading.

The Riester Agency in Phoenix is doing a multi-tiered voter education and outreach campaign for the Secretary of State office. Part of the communication initiative is to disseminate information about the accessible voting machine to the disability community in Arizona. We are reaching out to agencies that work with or advocate on behalf of the disability community to provide educational information about the accessible voting equipment, through newsletters your organization may have, or emails, or flyers you can distribute. Is it possible for us to provide you some information that you can then disseminate to your members/clients/staff, etc.?

If so, please let me know how I can best get this information to you. I appreciate your help and consideration!